Google celebrates hip hop history with letting you DJ

Google is celebrating the history of hip hop with — what else — a seriously cool Google Doodle.

The interactive Doodle commemorates the 44th anniversary of the party where DJ Kool Herc is credited with creating hip hop in 1973.

The Doodle features art from graffiti artist Cey Adams and has interactive turntables that let you mix your own samples using famous songs right from Google’s homepage.

To get started, all you have to do is click the play button on the “O” in the graphic. It then takes you to a “record crate” where you can choose samples of classic songs from artists like George Clinton, The Isley Brothers, Billy Squire, and Betty Wright. When you’ve picked your songs, you can customize the mix using slider controls.

While not the first time Google has let you make music in a Doodle, Google’s Ryan Germick said the project is one of the most complex the company’s done.

“There’s a lot that went into figuring out what bitrate of audio you needed to scratch records, how to sync up the beats correctly, and the complexities around animations were firsts for us,” he said in a blog post.

“We’ve never done a Doodle like this before, both because of the technical challenges and the many voices and collaborators we wanted to include,” added Perla Campos, who also worked on the Doodle at Google.

The team also worked with veterans of the hip hop music industry like Fab 5 Freddy and Lyor Cohen, who’s now head of YouTube Music, to create the experience and select which artists would be featured.

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